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CELEBRATION IN BALTIMORE 



TRIUMPH OF lilBERTY IN FRANCE 



%t^TH THE 



DELIVERED ON THAT OCCASION, 



BY 



WM. WIRT, 



ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1830. 



Published by order of the Committee of Arrangements. 



BALTIMORE: 

JOHN D. TOY, PRINTER, 

Corner of Market and St. Paul streets. 
1830. 



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THE LIBRARY | 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, TO WIT! 

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirtieth day of October, in 

the fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
John D. Toy, of the said District, hath deposited in this office, the title of a 
book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to 
wit: 

"Celebration in Baltimore of the Triumph of Liberty in France: with the 
Address delivered on that occasion, by Wm. Wirt, on Monday, October 
25, 1830. Published by order of the Committee of Arrangements." 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled 
"An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the 
times therein mentioned;" and also to the act, entitled "An Act supplemen- 
tary to the act, entitled 'An Act for the encouragement of learning, by se- 
curing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors 
of such copies during the times therein mentioned:' and extending the 
benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical 
and other prints." PHILIP MOORE, 

Clerk of the District of Maryland. 



GRAND CELEBRATION 

OF 

THE PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE, 

ON THE 

RECENT TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY 
IN FRANCE. 



Mayor's Office, Baltimore, Oct. 5, 1830. 
At the request of a number of Citizens, I am induced to invite my Fellow 
Citizens to assemble in their respective wards, at the places where elections 
are usually held, on Thursday evening next, at 8 o'clock, in order to ap- 
point two persons from each ward to meet in General Committee on Friday 
evening following- at the City Hall, at 7 o'clock, in order to adopt measures 
to celebrate the triumph of Liberty in France. 

JACOB SMALL, Mayor. 



At a meeting of the delegates from the several wards, held at the City Hall 
on Tuesday the 12th inst. for the purpose of considering the propriety of ce- 
lebrating in this City, the recent triumph of Liberty achieved by the people 
of France, Col. Samuel Moore was called to the chair, and Col. John 
Thomas and James L. Ridgely, appointed secretaries. 

It was resolved, that a procession of the citizens commemorative of that 
event, be recommended on the 19th inst. 

That the Major General of the third division, be requested to order under 
arms the uniform Corps of his command, on the morning of the 19th inst., 
and that the day be ushered in by a National Salute. 

That the several trades and professions be invited to attend, with appro- 
priate banners and badges. 

That the natives of France in the City of Baltimore be invited to unite in 
the celebration of the day. 

That the citizens, not included in the above resolutions, be requested to as- 
semble in Monument Square, on Tuesday the 19th inst. 

That William Wirt, Esq. be requested to deliver an oration suited to 
the occasion. 

That Gen. Samtjel Smith, be requested to prepare and submit an Address 
expressive of the feelings of the citizens of Baltimore, on the recent triumph 
of Liberty in France. 

That Col. John Thomas be appointed Marshal -in-chief for the day, and 
have power to select all necessary sub-marshals and assistants. 



That the Marshal -in-chief, cause suitable arrangements to be made at 
Monument Square, for the accommodation of the Executive of Maryland, the 
natives of France in this City on that day, the Mayor and City Council of 
Baltimore, Rev. Clergy, Soldiers of the Revolution, Officers of the Army 
and Navy, Judges of the several Courts, and members of the General Com- 
mittee. 

That the ceremonies of the day be announced by three pieces of Artillery 
in quick succession, and a National air from the Band. 

That the keepers of the public places be requested to display their Colours, 
together with the Tri-coloured flag of France during the day. 

That the members of the several trades and professions, be requested to 
hold meetings, prior to the 19th, with a view of making their necessary ar- 
rangements. 

That the citizens of Baltimore be requested to suspend all kind of business 
on the day of celebration. 

Resolved, That the Marshal take such order in • making his arrangements 
as to enable the Orator to commence at 12 o'clock precisely. 

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman 
and Secretaries, and published in the several papers of the City. 

SAMUEL MOORE, Chairman. 

John Thomas, 



James L.Ridgely,.^ ^ecretanes. 



Head Quarters, Third Division, October 14, 1830. 
The Major General of the Third Division accedes to the request of the 
delegates of the Citj^. He therefore orders, that the uniformed troops of 
all arms attached to his command assemble on parade, at 9 o'clock A. M. 
on the 19th inst. to celebrate the recent triumph of liberty in France. The 
day to be ushered in by a national salute. 

General Steuart of the Light Brigade, will assume the command: and is 
charged with the execution of this order. 

By order of Major General Smith, 

JOHN THOMAS, Inspector of Division. 



ORDER OF THE MARSHAL-IN-CHIEF. 

The following Order of Procession will be observed on the 19th October, 1830, 
in Commemoration of the Triumph of Liberty in France: 

FIRST DIVISION. 

The Uniform Corps of the Third Division^ 

SECOND DIVISION. 
General Committee. 

1. Band of Music. v 

2. Printers. 

8. Agricultural Society. 

4. Farmers and Planters. 

5. Gardeners. 

6. Plough Makers and makers of other Agricultural Implements. 

7. Millers and Inspectors of Flour. 

8. Bakers. 

9. Victuallers. 

10. Tailors. 

11. Blacksmiths and Whitesmiths. 

12. Millwrights, Rollers of Iron and Copper, and Steam Engine Makers. 

13. Weavers, Bleachers and Dyers, and Manufacturers of Cotton and 

Wool. 

14. Carpenters and Joiners, Lumber Merchants and Plane Makers. 

15. Stone Cutters. 

16. Masons and Bricklayers. 

17. Painters and Glaziers. 

18. Plasterers. 

19. Cabinet Makers. 

20. Upholsterers. 

21. Fancy and Windsor Chair Makers. 

22. Ornamental Chair Painters. 

23. Tanners, Curriers and Morocco Dressers. 

24. Cordwainers. 

25. Hatters. 

26. Turners and Machine Makers. 

27. Coopers. 

28. Brush and Bell Makers. 

29. Coach Makers. 

30. Whip Makers. 

31. Cedar Coopers. 

32. Brass Founders, Coppersmiths and Tin Plate Workers. 

33. Comb Makers. 

34. Tobacconists. 

35. Potters. 

36. Sugar Refiners. 

37. Watch Makers, Jewellers and Silversmiths 



6 

38 Engravers. 

39. Glass Cutters. 

40. Ship Carpenters, Ship Joiners, Block and Pump Makers. 

41. Boat Builders. 

42. Rope Makers. 

43. Riggers. 

44. Sail Makers. 

45. Pilots. 

46. Ship Captains and Mates. 

47. Seamen. 

48. Draymen and Cartmen. 
Music. 

Juvenile Associations. 

The respective trades and professions comprising the Second Division, 
will assemble with their Banners and Personal Decorations, at such place or 
places as they may deem convenient. Each trade and profession will ap- 
point a Marshal on foot, who will be distinguished by a blue sash, and who 
will conduct their respective associations to Baltimore street, where they 
will be received by the Marshals appointed for that purpose, and posted at 
their stations in line. 

THIRD DIVISION, 

Comprising the following bodies, will assemble at the Exchange. 

The Governor and Executive Council of the State, in an open Carriage. 

Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Esq. in an open Carriage, supported by 
James H. McCulloch and Monsieur de Bois Martin. 

Genl. Sam'l Smith and the Orator of the day, Wm. Wirt, Esq. in an open 
Carriage. 

The Natives of Prance in the city. 

The Mayor and City Council and officers of the Corporation. 

Foreign Ministers and Consuls. 

Senators and Members of Congress. 

Senators and Members of the State Legislature. 

The officers of the Army and Navy. 

The Clergy of all denominations. 

The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. 

The Trustees and Faculty of the University of Maryland. 

The Collector and officers of the Customs. 

The Marshal of the United States, and High Sheriff of Baltimore County 
and their officers. 

The Chancellor and Judges of the Court of Appeals. 

Judges and members of the Bar and officers. 

Justices of the Peace. 

Public Teachers. 

Students of Divinity, Law, and Physic. 

Merchants and Traders. 

Clerks and Accountants. 

Citizens, Mechanics, and Artizans not included in the above arrangement. 

Mr. Blanchard's Equestrian Corps. 

Capt. Bouldin's troop of horse. 



The line of Procession will be formed in Baltimore street at 9 o'clock 
A. M. the right of the line resting on Bond street. 

The several bodies composing the procession will^assemble at their res- 
pective places of meeting at 8 o'clock, A. M. precisely, three guns will be 
the signal for the different associations to commence their march to Balti- 
more street, under the direction of their own officers. On reaching'Balti- 
more street, they will be conducted by the Marshals, appointed for the pur- 
pose, to their respective places in line. 

The procession will take up the line of March at 10 o'clock, A. M. pre- 
cisely. Any association not in line, when the procession shall have taken 
up the line of march, will fall in the rear. 

JOHN THOMAS, Marshal-in-Chief. 



AFTER ORDER OF THE MARSHAL-IN-CHIEF. 

Mr. Blanchard having accepted the invitation of the Marshal, his Corps 
of Equestrians will be attached to the Third Division. 

The procession will move up Baltimore to Eutaw street, up Eutaw to 
Fayette street, down Fayette to Howard street, up Howard to Franklin 
street, from Franklin to Hamilton street, down Hamilton to Calvert street, 
onCalvert street to Monument Square; when the ceremonies of the day will 
be performed in the following order. 

Three pieces of Artillery, fired in quick succession, will be the signal for 
the commencement of the ceremonies of the day. 

A National Air will then be played by the Band. 

Mr. Wirt will then deliver an Oration. 

After which General Smith will submit an Address expressive of the feel- 
ings of J;he Citizens of Baltimore, on the recent Triumph of Liberty in 
France. 

The Marseilles Hymn will then be performed by the Band. 

On the conclusion of the ceremonies, the Procession will be dismissed, 
and the several associations will leave the ground under charge of their res- 
pective marshals. 

All those who shall unite in this procession are requested to wear a tri- 
coloured cockade and an appropriate badge. 

The following gentlemen are appointed Aids and Marshals. 

Capt. William G. Cook, ) rt ., , ,, „, , 7 . ,-,, . c 
> Jims to the Marshal-m-Chief . 
Aloeus B. Wolfe, j 

MARSHALS. 
James L. Ridgely, Jonathan Fitch, 

Edward Spedden, George Dobbin, 

Jesse Hunt, W. P. Mills, 

Gen. Benjamin Edes, Henry Green, 

James Biays, Jr. Capt. Henry Myers, 

McClintock Young, R. D. Millholland. 

Captains Kelly, Myers, and Cook, assisted by William F. Small and 
Alceeus B. Wolfe, Esqrs. are charged with the arrangements at the Monu- 
ment Square. JOHN THOMAS, Marshal-in-Chief. 



8 

When the Procession arrived at Monument Square., Col. S. Moore, as 
Chairman of the Committee of Arrangement, announced that General 
Samuel Smith, was appointed to act as Chairman and John S. Skinner, 
Esq. as Secretary to the meeting, with instructions to sign the Address on 
behalf of the Citizens of Baltimore, and forward the same to General 
Lafayette, to be disposed of in, such manner as he may see most proper. 



MR. WIRT'S ADDRESS. 



We have met, fellow citizens, to give public expres- 
sion to the feelings which animate every bosom in our 
society, and to unite our congratulations on the triumph 
of liberty in France. On this subject, there is but one 
heart, one voice among us, and that a heart and voice 
of universal joy. 

Had this great event occurred even in a land of 
strangers, unendeared to us by any previous act of 
kindness, and having no other claim upon our sympa- 
thies than that they belonged to the same family of hu- 
man beings with ourselves, it would still have been 
cause of private joy to each individual among us; for it 
would have borne evidence of the progress of liberty 
in the world. But it is not in a land of strangers, it is 
not in a country unendeared to us by previous acts of 
kindness that it has occurred. It is in France, our 
ancient friend and ally: in France, who stood by us in 
the darkest days of our own revolution; in France, by 
the powerful aid of whose fleets and armies, the last 
ensign of British authority was struck in our land, and 
we took our undisputed place among the nations of the 
earth. Yes, it is in France, the land of our benefac- 
tors and friends, that this spectacle has been exhibited. 
And such a spectacle! unparalleled in the history of the 
world! A nation of more than thirty millions of people 
emancipated by the efforts of a single city in three days! 
Not by a great body of lords and barons, cased in ar- 



10 

mour of iron, and with well appointed hosts of vassals 
at their backs: but by the common body of the citizens 
of Paris; the labouring classes — mechanics — manufac- 
turers — merchants — boys from the Polytechnic school; 
rushing naked and unarmed, upon the armed bands of 
the king; without a leader to direct their movements, 
and yet moving with a judgment, a concert, an energy 
that would have done honor to the ablest general; and, 
at the same time, with a moderation, a humanity, an 
integrity, a respect for private property and private 
feelings that would have graced the noblest school of 
philosophers in ancient times, or of christians in modern; 
finishing the whole stupendous operation in three days, 
and then returning, quietly and peaceably to their re- 
spective occupations, and committing the details of 
their political arrangements to their more experienced 
friends! 

In the stern decision, in the rapid and resistless exe- 
cution, in the thorough accomplishment of the purpose, 
and in the sudden and perfect calm that succeeded, 
tyrants may read a lesson that may well make them 
tremble on their thrones; for they see that it is only for 
the people to resolve, and it is done. 

Had this story been told to us by some writer of ro- 
mance, as the product of his own imagination, there is 
not a man among us who would not have condemned 
it as unnatural, improbable, a mere extravagance entire- 
ly out of keeping with the human character. And yet 
the thing has actually taken place; the work has been 
done, and well and nobly done. 

The French have sometimes been spoken of as a 
light people, without depth or stability of character. 
Let those who thus describe them, open the annals of 
England (the Rome of modern times) and shew us 
there, a movement, from the period of their invasion 
by Julius Caesar to the present day, that can match this 



11 

magnificent movement of the common people of Paris, 
No. In the enlightened motive ; in the station of the 
actors, in the character of the action itself, and in its 
beautiful consummation, there is nothing in the archives 
of history, ancient or modern, nor even in the volumes 
of the boldest and wildest imagination, that will bear a 
comparison. It was for liberty they struck, and the 
blow was the bolt of heaven. The throne of the ty- 
rant fell before it. The work was done: and all was 
peace. Well may we be proud to claim such a people 
as our friends and allies, and to unite in this public de- 
monstration of joy at their triumph. 

To give us a still deeper interest in the transaction, 
whom do we see mingling brilliantly in the conflict, 
partaking of the triumph, and benevolently tempering 
and guiding its results? Lafayette, our own Lafayette, 
the brave, the good, the friend of man. Well may we 
call him our own: for he gave to us the flower of h 



&« 



is 



youth! freely sacrificed the splendors of a court, all the 
pleasures and enjoyments natural to his age, nay his 
fortune and his blood, on the altar of our liberty. With 
the weight of more than seventy winters upon his head, 
broken with the struggles of a long life devoted to the 
cause of liberty, in America and in France — a cause 
which he has never ceased to cherish in the midst of 
the most depressing circumstances, even in the dun- 
geon's gloom — we see him now throwing off at once 
the weight of years, recovering, as if by magic, all the 
animation of his youth, with all its generosity and hu- 
manity; building up the liberties of his country with 
one hand, and with the other, protecting and alleviating 
the misfortunes of the fallen dynasty, and its misguided 
adherents. This is, indeed, to ride like an angel in the 
whirlwind and direct the storm: like an angel whose 
mercy is equal to his power. Yes — if any thing could 
swell still louder the note of our exultation at this great 



12 

achievement, it is the part which Lafayette, the noble 
pupil of our Washington, has borne and is still bearing 
in it. He seems to have been preserved by heaven, 
amid the countless perils through which he has passed, 
that he might witness the final triumph of liberty in his 
native land. The great object of his life, that alone for 
which he seemed to wish to live, is accomplished; and 
he wears, at this moment, a brighter crown than ever 
graced the brow of a Bourbon; for it is formed of the 
best affections, the love and gratitude of an admiring 
world. 

Here let us pause, and endeavor to recover from the 
amazement with which such an event is calculated to 
overwhelm the mind, that we may contemplate it more 
calmly. 

On the first arrival of the intelligence, we involunta- 
rily asked ourselves, "Can this be a reality?" And when 
we could no longer doubt the evidence of the fact, the 
next anxious inquiry which pressed itself upon us, was 
"Will it stand, or are we again to be disappointed as we 
were by the revolution of 1789?" 

This is not a question of mere idle and speculative 
curiosity with regard to which we are indifferent about 
the result. It is one in which our feelings are keenly 
interested; and more — it is one of deep and awful im- 
port to the liberties of the world. For if France is again 
to revolve through years and through seas of blood and 
crime, and to terminate, at last, at the point from which 
she set out—a despotism — despair will fill the European 
world, and the people will be disposed rather to bear 
the ills they have, than to encounter the unavailing hor- 
rors of the double precedent which France will have 
set. Let us look, therefore, calmly, for a few moments, 
at the very interesting question of the probable stability 
and success of this revolution. 



13 

Those of us who remember the revolution of 1789, 
are forcibly reminded of it by the late event, and from 
the catastrophe of the former struggle, are apt to draw 
a mournful presage of the present. It is not for human 
penetration to foretell, with certainty, the ultimate issue 
of such a movement. In a case so dependent on the 
capricious passions of man, there are too many contin- 
gencies that may arise to darken the fairest prospect 
and disappoint our hopes. But there seem to be fun- 
damental points of difference between the two cases 
which forbid us to reason from the one to the other, and 
justify, now, the hope of a happy result. Let us attend 
for a moment to these points of difference. 

In the first place, the state of political information in 
France, and in Europe at large, is widely different now 
from that which existed in 1789. France was not pre- 
pared for that revolution: nor were the people of Europe 
prepared to understand it, to second it, and to turn it 
to the best account. This is a grand and over-ruling 
distinction between the cases. 

With regard to France, her people had been buried, 
for ages, in the night of despotism, and had no idea of 
the meaning of political liberty. I speak of the great 
body of the people. On the upper classes, it is true, 
that day had recently broken from the writings of Mon- 
tesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau and Raynal. But thick 
darkness still rested upon the lower classes. Their fa- 
culties were benumbed by its influence, and their spirits 
enslaved and debased by the habit of subjection. The 
condition of things which they saw around them, and 
which had been immemorially transmitted from father 
to son, seemed to them to be the natural condition, and 
they considered themselves born for the use of their 
prince and his nobles. 

Such, too, was the general state of things in Europe. 
As to political rights, the body of the people were all 



14 

in Egyptian darkness. The yoke had been fixed and 
locked upon them in far distant ages, of which they 
had no knowledge; they had borne it, time out of mind, 
and their necks had became so callous and accustomed 
to its pressure, that it never entered into their imagina- 
tions to question the right. 

In this state of habitual subjection and inveterate ig- 
norance, the sun of liberty suddenly arose upon France, 
in full glory; when, "blind with excess of light," and 
maddened by the too rapid circulation of the blood 
which had so long stagnated in their veins, they passed 
in a few years, from the extreme of despotism to the ex- 
treme of anarchy, and deeds of horror were perpetrated 
which humanity shudders to recall. They frightened 
the rest of Europe by their example, instead of alluring 
them to an imitation of it. 

But widely different is the state of information at this 
day. That revolution itself, dreadful as it was, has 
awakened the whole continent from the sleep of ages, 
and put them upon inquiry into the foundations of go- 
vernment, and the purposes for which it was ordained: 
and during nearly half a century which has since 
elapsed, a degree of light has been thrown upon the 
great subject of the rights of man which has found its 
way into every hamlet and every cottage of southern 
Europe, and is advancing to the north with such increas- 
ing lustre as will ere long scatter the gloom that yet 
hangs over Siberia and Kamschatka. Hence the peo- 
ple of France, certainly, and perhaps of the whole 
south of Europe, are now prepared for the temperate 
enjoyment of liberty, under the administration of a re- 
gular government, for which they were totally unfitted 
in 1789. 

There is another striking difference between the 
cases, and a most important one it is, as it affects the 
question before us. 



15 

France has now the benefit of her own past expe- 
rience before her eyes: she had no such lamp to light 
her steps in 1789. Yes; that dreadful lesson is fresh 
in her recollection. She has had full time to study it: 
to discover every false step that was then taken, and to 
observe the causes which led to the miscarriage of that 
revolution. And to satisfy us that she has profited by 
this study, a comparison of her very different conduct 
on those two occasions will suffice. 

The former revolution was one long-protracted tra- 
gedy of horrors to which there seemed to be no end, 
and of which the most sagacious men among us could 
not guess the denouement, except that from its very 
protraction and violence it would probably end in a 
despotism. At the close of every scene of horror, we 
kept saying to ourselves, "surely it will close now, and 
France will at length have rest and peace." But we 
were doomed to be disappointed, time after time. One 
explosion followed another until the heart sickened 
"with hope deferred," and we turned away our eyes at 
last in despair from the appalling spectacle. 

It was this slow, vacillating, indecisive course of the 
former revolution which generated all the causes that 
conspired to defeat it. The Bastile was stormed in 
1789. It was not until the latter part of 1792 that the 
unfortunate monarch was deposed. During these three 
years, though strokes of great boldness were struck, 
one after another, yet none of them were of a decisive 
character: none of them indicated a fixed point at 
which the revolution was to stop: while they were all 
of a character to alarm, to exasperate and to raise up 
powerful enemies to the revolution both at home and 
abroad. 

Thus, in 1789 privileges and distinctions of orders 
were abolished, and the hitherto sacred revenues of the 
church suffered a deep encroachment. 



16 

In 1790 titles of nobility, with all their insignia 
of emblasoned arms and feudal power, were annihil- 
ated, and the estates attached to them were seized for 
the public use. These measures drove from France a 
numerous and powerful body of emigrants, inflamed 
with resentment and despair, who preached up, at 
every court in Europe, the cause of kings, which they 
represented, with reason, to be menaced with general 
destruction; and they left in France an equally numer- 
ous and powerful body of malcontents, whose cabals 
kept every part of the kingdom in a state of constant 
ferment and insurrection. The people, released at 
once from the restraints of the clergy and of their feu- 
dal lords, and suddenly become their own masters, with- 
out the discretion necessary for their guidance, became 
licentious and turbulent, and the whole kingdom pre- 
sented a scene of riot and disorder which there were 
no laws to repress. And now was hatched that politi- 
cal hydra, the Jacobin faction, which no Frenchman 
will ever be able to remember without an involuntary 
shudder. 

In 1791 the affrighted king made an unsuccessful at- 
tempt to escape with his family. They were arrested 
near the confines of the kingdom and brought back to 
Paris under the most humiliating circumstances; but 
still he was acknowledged to be the king of France, and 
a constituent part of the existing government. A new 
constitution was then framed, to which he was required 
to take an oath of obedience, and he took it per force. 
The leading patriots, who had nothing more in view 
than the enjoyment of rational liberty under a regular 
government, attempted to stop the revolution at the 
point of a limited monarchy. Mirabeau, that prodigy 
of genius and vice, was believed to have been of this 
number. The virtuous Lafayette certainly was, and so 
was a host of others of the brightest names in France. 



17 

But the bal] had rolled beyond their reach, and had ac- 
quired a momentum which they could no longer control. 
A set of unprincipled men, engendered by the slow pro- 
gress of the revolution, had, by their flatteries and ap- 
peals to the worst passions of the populace, worked 
themselves up to the head of affairs and drove on the 
revolution before the storm, without any fixed object on 
their own part. 

These infamous men infused suspicions into the minds 
of the people against their best friends, and even La- 
fayette had to defend himself against their accusations. 

In 1 792 the king was tried, condemned and deposed, 
and a republic was established; but it was a republic of 
bedlamites. The revolution now assumed a most dread- 
ful form. France, delivered up, at once, to the fury of 
a foreign and a civil war, and at the same time rent asun- 
der by the most frightful anarchy, exhibited a picture 
which the heart quails to contemplate even at this dis- 
tance of time. All was chaos and confusion, and La- 
fayette perceiving that the great object for which he 
had contended was lost, retired from the kingdom, and 
was doomed to mourn, for years, in an Austrian dun- 
geon, the disappointment of his patriot hopes. 

In 1793 the amiable and unfortunate king was torn 
from his family, and bade adieu, on the scaffold, to all 
the troubles of life; and thenceforth the guillotine stream- 
ed with the blood of the best patriots of France. No 
confidence existed any where. Every one was dis- 
trusted. Generals, whose victories had shed the highest 
glory upon their country, were called from the head of 
their armies to perish in disgrace. Denunciation and 
massacre were the order of the day. Suspicion be- 
came full proof, and every accusation was fatal. To 
consummate the horror of the scene, the christian reli- 
gion was formally abolished, and a sort of heathen wor- 
ship was substituted in its place. The republic was 
3 



18 

dissolved, the government was declared to be revolu- 
tionary, and a dictatorship was established, compared 
with which those of Marius and Sylla formed a golden 
age. Terror, death, and rapine walked abroad in 
triumph, and the diabolical spirits which had set the 
mischief afoot, hovered over the bloody spectacle and 
mocked at the misery which they had created. 

In 1794 the ruffians, Danton and Robespierre, fell in 
succession, and expiated their crimes (if indeed such 
crimes be expiable at all) on that guillotine which they 
had so often deluged with the blood of innocence, even 
of female innocence and beauty. But the reign of ter- 
ror still held on its course. The government was con- 
tinually shifting its form. In truth, there was virtually 
no government at all. It was one continued scene of 
anarchy and confusion. Those terrible factions, the 
Jacobin, the Gironde, the Mountain, in their struggles 
for power, and their alternate ascendancy, continued to 
exhibit France as one great slaughter-house of human 
victims, without regard to guilt or innocence, sex or 
age. The whole nation seemed to have been meta- 
morphosed into a nation of demons, wild and frightful, 
and drunk with human blood, with which they seemed 
incapable of being satiated. 

And yet, strange as it may seem, and strange as it 
does now seem even to ourselves, there was a splen- 
dour, a magnificence about that revolution that riveted 
our admiration and sympathy with a force that could 
not be at once detached by all the horrors that accom- 
panied it. 

In the first burst of the revolution, nothing was seen 
by us but a brave and generous effort by the people for 
the recovery of their long lost rights and liberties. 
The spectacle of such a people, a people so endeared 
to us by recent services, rising, in such a cause, against 
the whole wealth and power of the court and the vast 



19 

body of the nobles, temporal and spiritual, who had so 
long lorded it over France, was well calculated to enlist 
our strongest sympathies. — The first movements of the 
national convention, too, were marked with an energy, 
a grandeur, a magnanimity, and a power of eloquence 
such as the world had never witnessed, and such as no 
human heart could withstand. — And, then, when the 
combined armies moved upon France, the heroism with 
which they were met by the armies of the republic — • 
chaunting, as they marched up in order of battle, the 
sublime strains of their national hymn — and the stupen- 
dous power with which they were beaten off, and their 
armies crushed and annihilated one after another — ■ 
threw such a blaze of glory around the revolution as 
made us blind to all its excesses. Those excesses, too, 
came to us, veiled and softened by the distance, and by 
the medium through which they passed: and, however 
much to be deplored, we were ready, with the French 
patriots, to consider them as the unavoidable conse- 
quences of such a struggle, and to charge all the blood 
that was spilt in France, to the tyrants, abroad and at 
home, who chose to resist, to death, the rightful de- 
mands of the people. 

Those "wonderful people," too, (as they were cha- 
racterised by Gen. Washington in ? 96,) in the midst of 
the terrific scenes which they were daily enacting, con- 
trived to throw a grace and a beauty around their public 
acts, and to gild even their wildest projects with a moral 
sublimity that effectually concealed, at the time, all their 
folly and injustice, and gave them a rapturous recep- 
tion throughout the United States. Thus, when, in 
the rage of reformation which seemed determined 
to leave nothing of the old order of things remaining, 
they resolved to abolish the calendar, and, in lieu of the 
barbarous names by which the months had been dis- 
tinguished, to introduce a new nomenclature, founded 



20 

on the exhibitions of nature, in the different seasons: 
there was a poetic beauty in the conception and a fe- 
licity of taste in the execution of which no other nation 
on earth seemed capable. Their months of buds, 
flowers and meadows, of harvest, heat and fruit, of 
vintage, fog and sleet, of snow, rain and wind, were so 
beautiful and so expressive, that they extorted the ad- 
miration even of the reluctant world. Even the wild 
project of propagating liberty by the sword, and folding 
the whole human family in their fraternal embrace, was 
so bold and generous and grand, that, in the contem- 
plation of its magnificence, we forgot its folly. And 
when, in execution of this project, the young hero of 
the republic crossed the Alps, and by a series of victo- 
ries that eclipsed the brightest boasts of ancient history, 
brought Italy, Austria and Prussia to his feet, it seemed 
as if heaven itself had set its seal to the high resolve. 

Those days come fresh upon our recollection in con- 
sequence of the recent movement in France. There 
are not many of us now alive who were old enough 
then to understand and recollect them. The first 
shock of the revolution, the storming of the bastile, 
struck this whole continent, from one end to the other, 
like an electric flash, and I believe that there was not a 
man in the United States whose first impulse it was not 
to rush to the side of the gallant people of France, and 
to triumph or die in their cause. Had it not been for 
the barrier of the ocean, there were hundreds and thou- 
sands of our countrymen who would have obeyed the 
impulse. Even with that impediment in our way, it 
was with extreme difficulty that the illustrious man then 
at the head of our affairs, the Father of his country, 
could restrain us from plunging into the conflict. No 
other man, and no other thousand men in the United 
States could have done it. And even when done by 
him, the idol of our love and the pride of our nation, 



21 

and of mankind^ we complained, in no very measured 
terms, of a restraint which probably saved us from ruin, 
In truths our hearts were too deeply engaged to give 
fair play to our heads. Many of us were very young, 
and all of us under a paroxysm of excitement which 
scarcely left us morally responsible for our conduct. So 
all-absorbing was the passion, that our own affairs had 
no longer any flavor for us. We gave to France all 
that we were permitted to give, our hearts, our prayers, 
and all the sympathies of our nature. Our eyes, our 
ears were turned, incessantly, towards her coast, to 
catch the earliest tidings of her progress, and every new 
sail from abroad that hove in sight, set our bosoms into 
the wildest commotion. We identified ourselves with 
her as far as possible. We assumed her badges, adopt- 
ed her language of salutation and intercourse, and all 
her votive cries of joy and triumph. The names of her 
patriots, orators, and generals, "familiar in our mouths 
as household words, were, in our flowing cups, most 
devoutly remembered!' 7 We recited with rapture those 
noble bursts of indignant or pathetic eloquence which 
were continually breaking from her tribune. Every 
shout of victory from her shores was echoed back from 
ours. Every house and every cottage, our mountains 
and valleys, rung with her national airs, and often did 
we see groups of the old and the young, the rich and 
the poor, fathers and sons, virgins and matrons, swelling 
the heroic chorus of the Marseilles hymn, with the tears 
and the fire of enthusiasm in their eyes. Those days 
are gone; but there is still a mournful pleasure in their 
remembrance. They recall to us many of those who 
were wont to join with us in those celebrations, but who 
can join with us no more/ They recall those visions of 
glory which then surrounded France, but which were, 
afterwards, so mournfully overcast. They attest the 
universality, the sincerity, the depth of the interest which 



22 

we have ever taken in the cause of her liberty. Long, 
very long, was it before that enthusiasm subsided. Ne- 
ver did it subside, while there was a remaining hope 
that France might still be free. But the combined 
powers, though beaten in every field, were still able to 
protract the war, until all the bloom and beauty of the 
revolution were gone, and, what was worse, until its 
very object was lost sight of and exchanged for a deadly 
thirst of vengeance, and a proud passion for the glory of 
the arms of France. It was this moral transition in the 
sentiments of the people, which ultimately defeated the 
great purpose of the revolution. For it conducted Na- 
poleon to an imperial throne; and his ambition, grown 
frantic with success, urged him to those rash measures 
which resulted in the restoration of the Bourbons, and 
thus brought back the revolution to the point from which 
it had started. 

This sketch, imperfect as it necessarily is, will enable 
us to institute a comparison between the former revolu- 
tion and the present. And we cannot but see that it 
was the slow, lingering, fluctuating course of the former 
revolution, and the repeated intervals in which there 
was, virtually, no government at all, that gave time 
for the demoralization- of the people, and for the forma- 
tion of those terrible factions within, and those power- 
ful combinations without, which finally ended in its dis- 
comfiture. But here the blow has been struck, and the 
whole revolution rounded off and finished in three 
days. No time has been afforded for the demoraliza- 
tion of the people; none for the formation of factions 
within, or combinations without. The first intelligence 
that Europe, or even the remote provinces of France 
have of the affair is, that it is finished. It is this cele- 
rity, and the constant presence of an efficient govern- 
ment, which distinguish this revolution from the for- 
mer and constitute its safety. The men who head this 



23 

movement are practical men, with strong common sense, 
(the best of all sense) and with honest intentions. 
With the former revolution full in their view, and a 
thorough knowledge of all the causes of its miscarriage, 
they have gone to work in this case with the decision 
and despatch of men of business. They change their 
monarch, limit his powers, and there they stop. And 
what power in Europe can complain? 

Can England? She has saved us the trouble of a 
speculation on this subject by a prompt acknowledg- 
ment of the existing government. 

Can Austria or Prussia complain of it, as breaking 
the line of legitimate succession, while acknowledging 
Michael on the throne of Portugal? Or can Russia, 
while not only acknowledging Michael, but having her 
own throne at this moment filled with the younger bro- 
ther of the family? These are, both, departures from 
the strict line of legitimate succession adopted by the 
holy alliance: and if it be sufficient to excuse the de- 
parture in these two instances, that the reigning prince 
is of the same blood with the right heir, the same may 
be urged for the reigning king of France; for he is a 
Bourbon in the maternal line. It is not upon the ab- 
stract principle of the strict line of legitimate succession 
that these powers can be expected to unite in a war 
against France. If they do unite in such a war, it will 
be to assert the right of a prince to rule despotically, 
in violation of the social compact which unites him with 
his people. Is this probable? Let us remember that 
Alexander of Russia was the chief of the armed nego- 
ciators by whom this compact was arranged. That 
monarch saw the impossibility of maintaining a despo- 
tic prince, of the obnoxious house of Bourbon, on the 
throne of France, in the state of high illumination 
which then existed among the people. And although 
the allied armies were in possession of Paris, he would 



24 

not permit Louis the XVIII. to enter until he had given 
to his people the charter which they required. Will 
the present Emperor of Russia support with his arms 
the violation of the charter thus sanctioned by his au- 
gust brother? That it has been most shamefully and 
most unwisely violated; all Europe admits. That the 
offender has been removed with astonishing modera- 
tion and humanity, is equally admitted. That the re- 
volution is not a war upon monarchy is apparent by the 
fact that a monarch now occupies the throne, and sub- 
stantially under the charter to which Russia herself 
gave her sanction in 1814. With what decency, then, 
could Russia interfere? But, waving the decorum of 
such an interference, (which perhaps would not be 
insurmountable,) let us attend to the motives by which 
princes are more generally governed; the practicability 
of the enterprize, and the value of its precarious suc- 
cess, compared with the certain costs and hazards of 
the attempt. 

The question is every day becoming more compli- 
cated to them: and circumstances which, at first, seem 
calculated to provoke this attempt, immediately assume 
an appearance well fitted to discourage it. Thus the 
contagion is spreading: the Netherlands have risen and 
demanded a charter from their king. This is a new 
alarm to the neighboring monarchies. But the king of 
the Netherlands is a sensible and honest man, and has, 
we are told, already called the States General, with a 
view to the redress of the grievances of his subjects. 
This monarch has followed, in the main, the policy of 
England so closely as to leave but little doubt that he 
will be willing to adopt the British form of government; 
and that he will, also, follow her example in the imme- 
diate recognition of that of France. Similar govern- 
ments will probably soon be instituted both in Spain 
and Portugal; and they will be recognized by England, 
France, and the Netherlands, 



25 

No w ; although England was willing in 1792 to unite 
in a war against that wild democracy in France, which 
threatened to subvert, by force, monarchy in every form, 
throughout the world, and to give the fraternal em- 
brace to every nation upon earth, willing or unwilling, 
does it follow that she will look with composure at a 
war on the limited monarchies in her neighborhood, 
which she has thought proper to recognise, and that 
war, too, headed by Russia? Jealous as she is, and with 
good reason, of the alarming strides of the great auto- 
crat, and interfering, as she certainly did, with his dis- 
tant enterprise upon Turkey, will she be content to see 
the kingdoms in her immediate neighborhood reduced 
to Russian dependencies, by those armies of occupation 
with which the success of Russia must be followed? 
Will Russia rise against, the resistance of England to 
such an enterprise, when she is believed to have miti- 
gated her designs on Turkey in consequence of English 
mediation? This is scarcely credible. Or if she should, 
will Austria and Prussia, notwithstanding their alleged 
servility to her views, follow her in such an enterprise? 
Those powers will unquestionably consult their own 
safety, and will weigh the consequences, on both sides, 
before they take such a step. There is a wide differ- 
ence between their situation and that of Russia, and 
what may be politic for Russia, might be very impolitic 
for them. The subjects of Russia are yet in polar dark- 
ness: those of Austria and Prussia are in a very differ- 
ent condition. Look at the internal state of their own 
dominions. The spirit of liberty has gone abroad among 
their people, and even in Prussia is so strong, that so 
far back as 1814 the king found it necessary to promise 
his subjects an amelioration of their political condition, 
to induce them to follow his standard against France. 
In Austria liberty is awake, not only in her Universi- 
ties, but among the body of her people. _ Neither of 
4 



26 

these powers could send an army against France., with- 
out raising and maintaining another at home to keep 
down the discontents of their own people. Those 
people are no longer the automatons they were in 1814. 
They have discovered that they are men as their mon- 
archy are, deriving from the God of nature equal rights, 
and with a clear right to participate in the government 
of their choice. Is it credible that they would bear the 
repeated conscriptions to which such a war would sub- 
ject them, for the purpose of carrying on a crusade 
against the liberties of others abroad, and thus riveting, 
more closely, their own chains at home? 

If, in spite of all these discouragements, those powers 
were mad or fatuitous enough to meditate such an en- 
terprise, have they any reason to believe that it could 
succeed? Must they not see, on the contrary, that it 
would be utterly hopeless? Have they forgotten that 
when France stood alone, with all Europe combined 
against her, they found her invincible; that she swept 
their embattled hosts from every field, and led her vic- 
torious legions into their own capitals? One of these 
monarchs is reported already to have said that "he has 
had enough of French wars." Well may he say so; 
and well may Austria respond "Amen." They have 
not forgotten that Napoleon twice "struck their crowns 
into the hazard," and that it was by his gift that they now 
wear them. And although Napoleon be no more, they 
well know the gigantic power of France when armed 
in such a cause, and how readily a war upon her liber- 
ties will raise up some other Napoleon, probably from 
among the heroes of the Polytechnic school, once more 
to sweep like a whirlwind over their dominions, and 
to bring them again to his feet. If France, single- 
handed, was able to do this, while every power in Eu- 
rope frowned upon her, what will she not be able to ac- 
complish when cheered by the countenance, and per- 
haps supported by the arms of England? 



27 

Amid so many discouragements, is it conceivable that 
these powers will brave the consequences of an enter- 
prise so full of despair? No one believes that their deci- 
sion will be governed by any other motive than their own 
interest. Their own safety will be their supreme law. 
But will not this very consideration conduct them to the 
conclusion that it is their wisest course to keep the peace 
with France, and endeavor to preserve peace at home? 
Can they fail to perceive that the irresistible course of 
events must constrain them ultimately to make terms 
with their subjects; and that it is far wiser to make them 
at once, with as good a grace as remains to them, and 
to place their governments at least on the basis of the 
British constitution, of whose stability they have had 
such signal proof? Must they not see that it is far wiser 
thus to act, than to peril the consequences of that wild 
and desolating uproar throughout Europe, which an 
invasion of France would unquestionably produce? 

That they will take the course that is wisest, because 
it is the wisest, may be problematical. But it is scarcely 
to be presumed that these sovereigns are so utterly be- 
reft of reason as to provoke and precipitate their own 
ruin by a measure so hopeless. If they do attempt it, 
it can only be because Heaven, resolved upon their de- 
struction, has first made them mad. 

What course they will take is yet problematical. But 
supposing them to have the use of their reason, we 
have fair grounds of hope, that although the astound- 
ing character of the revolution, and of the progress of 
the same principles in the neighboring kingdoms may 
make them pause for a while, their own common sense 
will at length conduct them all to the conclusion, that 
there is no other course left for them but to recognize 
the existing government of France, and to direct their 
attention, exclusively, to their affairs at home. 



28 

Very much, indeed every thing, depends upon the 
prudence of France herself. If she shall stop where 
she is, remain quiet, united and happy at home, and 
avoid all interference with other governments, the work 
is done. If, on the other hand, storms should arise 
within to drive her from her present anchorage, and 
set the revolution afloat again on a sea of anarchy, 
every thing is to be feared for herself and for Europe. 
Is there any danger of such a relapse? That there are 
domestic malcontents, and perhaps foreign emissaries 
enough in the kingdom to make the wicked attempt, is 
probable enough. Is there any reason to believe that 
such an attempt will succeed? 

The great security of France arises from her past 
experience, which must make her distrust all counsels 
tending to disunion and disorganization. There is, 
moreover, an efficient and watchful government in be- 
ing, under whose jealous vigilance these incendiaries 
will have to carry on their machinations. What theme 
can they find of sufficient power to persuade the people 
of France to leave the port in which they now find 
themselves safe and happy, and to commit themselves 
again to those seas of whose dangers they have hereto- 
fore had such dreadful experience. 

Will it be sympathy for the fallen house of Bourbon? 
There is no nerve in France that will respond to such 
an appeal. That house has no place in the affections 
of the people. It was forced upon them, at the point 
of the bayonet, in 1814. It has been tried a second 
time: found to be incurably despotic, and every indica- 
tion attests that the revolution which has again ejected 
them from the throne, is, in this respect, popular 
throughout France. The influence of that family is 
extinguished for ever, in the kingdom. 

Nor do we learn that there is any other competitor 
for the crown that has a party of sufficient strength to 



29 

unfurl a banner in his cause with any hope of success. 
It is not a small faction that can disturb the peace of 
such a kingdom as that of France, instructed as they 
must necessarily be by their past experience. 

It has been suggested that the limited monarchy 
which has been established is distasteful to the repub- 
licans: and that the match of discord may be applied 
with success to this party. But Gen. Lafayette is at 
the head of the republicans, and a letter from him which 
has been recently published is well fitted to quiet our 
apprehensions on this score. He would have preferred 
a republic on our model. But the question was not 
what was best in the abstract, but what was best for 
France in the situation in which she was placed. 
What was that situation? The tastes and prejudices of 
foreign princes were to be consulted to avoid all pre- 
text for interference on their part, and such a govern- 
ment was to be established as the more liberal among 
them, (England for example,) would promptly recog- 
nize. On the other hand, with a view to immediate 
repose in France, herself, it was indispensably necessa- 
ry that there should be at once a firm and efficient 
government, to avoid those factions which are always 
hatched by protracted revolutions, and fluctuating 
counsels; witness the afflicting scenes in South America. 
Hence the necessity of that compromise which he, Gen. 
Lafayette, says was so promptly made. The wisdom 
of it, both in its foreign and domestic aspect, is so 
striking, that the people of France, with the lights of 
their past experience before them, cannot fail to see it. 
Nor can those republicans fail to see what Gen. Lafayette 
has so intelligibly stated in another letter "that although 
the government be a monarchy, it is a very republican 
monarchy, susceptible of farther improvement:" and 
they have a king manifestly prepared to yield to any 



30 

improvement they desire; for he is, in spirit, as much 
a republican as any man among them. 

The people of France finding themselves at once in 
the actual enjoyment of the sweets of peace and free- 
dom, under the protection of a government mild, con- 
ciliating and efficient — open, moreover, to such amend- 
ments as experience shall suggest, will hardly be per- 
suaded to go again in quest of anarchy and confusion, 
with the horrors and the catastrophe of the former re- 
volution full in their view. No: they have not forgot- 
ten that fearful lesson: and to suppose them ready, 
without any necessity, to re-enact that tragedy, is to 
suppose them madmen, without any other claim upon 
the sympathies of the world than such as are felt for 
the inmates of a lunatic asylum. 

The quiet and orderly manner in which the people 
restored the pavement of their streets, purified their 
city, and went back to their respective occupations, 
after their battle of three days, was, at that time, a 
pledge for Paris, always the most to be dreaded of any 
other part of the kingdom. They acted like honest 
and sensible workmen. They had a public job to do; 
they finish it, at once, with all possible moderation and 
humanity; and then peaceably resume their private 
pursuits. 

Whom have they to quarrel with? The guards, it 
seems, fired upon them reluctantly, until their hearts 
would permit them to fire upon their fellow citizens 
no longer — when they throw down their arms and 
rush into their embrace in a manner so touching as 
to leave no doubt of the sincerity and permanency of 
the reconciliation. France, at large, seems tranquil. 
A few petty disturbances there may have since been; 
but they are the mere foam which was to have been ex- 
pected from the fall of such a water-spout. Should more 
serious disturbances arise, from any public grievance 



31 

which demands redress, who can doubt that it will be 
redressed, and that the people will be satisfied? We 
have this important guaranty for the tranquillity of 
France, that Lafayette is in the counsels of the king, 
and possesses the unbounded confidence of the people. 
With a perfect knowledge of his countrymen, and 
with an address of unrivalled tact to soothe and to con- 
ciliate, he. is, moreover, at the head of the National 
Guards, and of the whole military force; and possesses, 
therefore, the power to entreat with energy, where 
moral persuasion fails. But we have no authentic in- 
formation to justify the fear that the application of force 
will become necessary; and we have good reason to 
distrust those reports which, according to custom, will 
be continually thrown upon the London Exchange, for 
the unworthy purpose of speculations in stock. 

The quiet and very leisurely manner in which 
Charles the X. with his family, was permitted to re- 
tire from the kingdom, and his reception by the peo- 
ple, every where upon his journey, speak volumes on 
the subject of the temper of the French, in the very 
crisis of the revolution. How different from the flight 
of the unfortunate Louis and his family in 1791 — post- 
ing by night, in disguise and in dismay — pursued by 
armed dragoons — finally arrested by the discovery of 
the keeper of a post-house — and brought back in dis- 
grace to Paris under an armed guard, the informer sit- 
ting triumphant above him crowned with laurel — the 
frantic rabble exulting in his humiliation, and with diffi- 
culty restrained from laying violent hands upon him. 
Charles X. on the contrary, travels, with his family, in 
open day, by the slowest and easiest journeys, under 
the respectful escort of the commissaries of the new 
government; and the people, every where, so far from 
any vulgar display of insolent triumph, touch their 
hats in silent respect for the sorrows of the party, with 



32 

a delicacy of feeling eminently characteristic of the 
French when in a state of peace, but at the same time 
with an air of calm decision quite as manifest as their 
delicacy. 

The whole movement stands in striking contrast to 
the former revolution. In the two legislative houses 
there was no violence of debate. Differences of opinion 
there were: but there was no rude and bitter alterca- 
tion. On the contrary, all was as calm and decorous as 
it was decisive. And so far from adopting the bloody re- 
volutionary tribunal which characterised the movement 
of 1789, one of the first measures proposed is the aboli- 
tion of capital punishment. It was made immediately 
after the arrest of the late ministers, and was supported 
by Lafayette; and no one who observes the point of 
time and knows the man, can mistake the purpose. 
How noble is this humanity to the fallen; and how 
strikingly and honorably does it distinguish the present 
revolution from the vindictive and sanguinary proceed- 
ings of that of 1789. Is it. not manifest that every man 
who has had any thing to do with this affair, is acting 
with direct reference to the former revolution, and with 
a settled determination to avoid the false steps which 
led to its miscarriage? And is not this determination a 
most propitious pledge of the stability and success of 
the present revolution? 

After all — in a case so dependent on the crooked 
policy of princes, and on the wayward and turbulent 
passions of man — it is possible that our hopes may be 
disappointed. Judging, however, by general appear- 
ances both in France and out of it, (so far as any au- 
thentic information has reached us) we have reason to 
cherish the hope that that beautiful country is at length 
as free as she chooses to be, and that the genius and 
taste, the fine sensibilities and generous affections which 
so pre-eminently distinguish her, will now have genial 



33 

skies and full scope for their cultivation and expansion. 
Sure I am that I speak the sentiments, not only of this 
city but of the whole United States, when I say, that 
no nation will hail her success with a truer heart of joy 
than ours, and that there is none on which we believe 
that liberty will sit more gracefully and attractively than 
on hers. 

Never has her character appeared in a form so cap- 
tivating as in the late movement. It has brought for- 
ward, among her people, a new class of candidates for 
foreign respect and admiration: that class which her 
nobles, in haughty contempt, were wont to style the 
canaille, but who proved themselves, on that occasion, 
the true noblemen of France, the noblemen of nature. 
Their conduct throughout the whole movement was 
marked with the noblest lineaments, and their sudden 
transition from the shock of arms to the stillness of 
peace, was sublime. In this they proved their perfect 
title to liberty by their fitness to enjoy it, and, on a most 
trying occasion, have presented a model of prudence 
and wisdom worthy of the remembrance and imitation 
of us all. 

Among the youth of the Polytechnic school, too, 
there was a beautiful little incident, so characteristic of 
the, fine and delicate sensibility of the French, that I 
cannot forbear adverting to it. When those boys were 
required by the present king to designate from among 
their number the twelve most distinguished in the late 
conflict, with the view of conferring on them the deco- 
rations of the legion of honor — what was their answer? 
Permit me to read it, as extracted from our papers, for 
it is one of those things that will bear a second reading. 

"To the Secretary of War: 

"General — We come in the name of the Polytech- 
nic school, to express our gratitude on the subject of 
5 



34 

the crosses of honor awarded to us: but the recompense 
appearing to us above our services, and, moreover, no 
one of us deeming himself more worthy than his com- 
rades to receive it, we beg permission to decline ac- 
cepting them. 

"There is a favor, however, we desire to ask of you. 
One of our comrades, Venneau, perished on the day of 
the 27th: We recommend to your kindness his father, 
who is in the service of the government, in the collec- 
tion of the revenue. We recommend, farther, to your 
kindness, General, another of our comrades, Charras, 
dismissed from the schools by General Bourdsoulle on 
account of his opinions. We ask that he may be re- 
stored to our ranks, in which he did good service these 
few days. 

"In the name of the Polytechnic school, the two 
scholars deputed by their comrades, 

J. DlJPRESNE, 

Ferri Pisani. 
August 7th, 1830." 

There is no parade here. It is the simple voice of 
nature, and goes, at once, to the heart of every reader. 
Such is France: radiant with taste and feeling and 
generosity in every department of her society: "in war, 
the mountain storm — in peace, the gale of spring." 
Long may the sun of liberty gild with his glories her 
vine-covered hills, her laughing valleys and her splendid 
cities. 

With no pretence of right, and no wish to interfere 
with the political institutions of other countries, but, on 
the contrary, holding it to be the right of all to pursue 
their own happiness, in their own way, and under the 
form of government which they deem most conducive 
to that end — yet believing, as we do, that civil and re- 
ligious freedom are essential to the happiness of man, 
and to the development of the high capacities, mental 



35 

and moral, with which his Creator has endowed him, 
it is natural for us to rejoice when we see any nation, 
and more especially one so endeared to us as France, 
coming, of her own accord, into the fold of free govern- 
ments. If there be any people who believe that their 
peace and order and happiness require the curb of a 
despotic government, be it so: their believing it, is 
proof enough to us that it is so, with regard to them: 
And however much we may regret, it is not for us to 
disturb their repose. Free government is good only for 
those who understand its value and are prepared for its 
enjoyment. It cannot be forced, with advantage, upon 
any people who are not yet ripe for its reception. 
Nations yet in darkness require, like children, to be 
disciplined and instructed before they can act with ad- 
vantage for themselves. Their best instruction from 
abroad, is the example of other nations; their only pro- 
per teachers at home, are their own enlightened pa- 
triots; and the wisest process, the gradual diffusion of 
light among them. That a movement may be prema- 
ture and end only in abortion and misery, the former 
example of France has instructed them. That it may 
be mature, and the deliverance easy, quick and safe, 
she has now given them a happy and beautiful illustra- 
tion. It is only by such a revolution as this that the 
cause of liberty can present an attraction to the world. 
It is only in such a revolution that the humane and be- 
nevolent can take delight. 

Charity is due even to the prejudices of princes. 
They are, probably, as much in the dark on this head, 
as their subjects. They have been taught from their 
cradles that they were born to rule, as their subjects 
have been taught from theirs, that they were born to 
be ruled. The mistake seems to be mutual, and is, 
perhaps, equally honest on both sides. Humanity re- 
quires that its correction should be attended with as 



36 

little violence as possible, and this can be best effected 
by the gradual diffusion of light. Let us be content 
with the order of nature, which, however slow, is al- 
ways safest and best. The sun does not spring at once 
from the nadir to the zenith. Such a leap would bring 
on a convulsion of nature and the crash of worlds. 
No: his ascent is gradual. Our eyes are accommo- 
dated, without pain, to his increasing light. The land- 
scape is softly and beautifully unfolded, and the plane- 
tary system, in the meantime, maintains its harmonious 
and salutary action. The seasons revolve in their or- 
der; and the earth brings forth her flowers and her 
fruits, in peace. So let us be content to have it in the 
intellectual world. Let not vain man presume to be 
wiser than his Maker, and, in a foolish attempt to force 
the order of nature, create only misery, where he in- 
tended happiness. 

Let us not fear that the light which has already 
gone forth will be extinguished. Tyrants might as 
well attempt to blot the sun from the firmament. They 
may attempt it; but "He that sitteth in the heavens 
shall laugh them to scorn." The creatures formed for 
his worship will be permitted to worship him with ex- 
alted faculties and full liberty of conscience. Placed 
here for their common good and happiness, and in- 
dued with minds and affections fitted for enlightened 
intercourse, and the mutual interchange of kind offices, 
let us not be so impious as to fear that the light which 
has arisen will be suffered to be put out and the world 
re-plunged in darkness and barbarity. 

Fellow citizens, this light was first struck in our 
land. The sacred trust is still among us. Let us take 
care how we guard the holy fire. We stand under a 
fearful responsibility to our Creator and our fellow 
creatures. It has been his divine pleasure that we 
should be sent forth as the harbingers of free govern- 



37 

ment on the earth, and in this attitude we are now be- 
fore the world. The eyes of the world are upon us; 
and our example will probably be decisive of the cause 
of human liberty. 

The great argument of despots against free govern- 
ments is, that large bodies of men are incapable of self- 
rule, and that the inevitable and rapid tendency of such 
a government as ours is to faction, strife, anarchy and 
dissolution. Let it be our effort to give, to the expect- 
ing world, a great, practical and splendid refutation of 
this charge. If we cannot do this, the world may des- 
pair. To what other nation can we look to do it? 
We claim no natural superiority to other nations. We 
have not the folly to think of it. We claim nothing 
more than a natural equality. But circumstances have 
conspired to give us an advantage in making this great 
political experiment which no other modern nation en- 
joys. The government under which the fathers of our 
revolution were born was the freest in Europe. They 
were rocked in the cradle and nurtured in the princi- 
ples of British liberty: and the transition from those 
institutions to our own was extremely easy. They 
were maturely prepared for the change both by birth 
and education, and came into existence as a republic 
under the happiest auspices that can ever again be ex- 
pected to arise. If, therefore, our experiment shall 
fail, I say again that the world may well despair. 
Warned as we are by the taunts of European 
monarchists, and by the mournful example of all the 
ancient republics, are we willing to split on the same 
rock on which we have seen them shipwrecked? 
Are we willing to give our enemies such a triumph 
as to fulfil their prophecy and convince the world that 
self-government is impracticable — a mere chimera — and 
that man is fit only to be a slave to his fellow man? Are 
we willing to teach the nations of the earth to despair, 



38 

and resign themselves at once to the power that crushes 
them? Shall we forfeit all the bright honors that we 
have hitherto won by our example, and now admit by 
our conduct, that, although free government may subsist 
for a while, under the pressure of extrinsic and mo- 
mentary causes, yet that it cannot bear a long season of 
peace and prosperity; but that as soon as thus left to 
itself, it speedily hastens to faction, demoralization, 
anarchy and ruin? Are we prepared to make this prac- 
tical admission by our conduct, and extinguish, our- 
selves, the sacred light of liberty which has been en- 
trusted to our keeping? Or, shall we not rather show 
ourselves worthy of this high trust, maintain the ad- 
vanced post which we have hitherto occupied with so 
much honor, prove, by our example, that a free go- 
vernment is the best pledge for peace and order and 
human happiness, and thus continue to light the other 
nations of the earth on their way to liberty? Who 
can hesitate between these two alternatives? Who that 
looks upon that monument that decks the Park, and 
observes the statue by which it is surmounted, or on 
this that graces our square, and recalls the occasion on 
which it was erected, is willing to admit that men are 
incapable of self-government, and unworthy of the bless- 
ing of liberty? No man, I am sure, who has an Amer- 
ican heart in his bosom. 

Away, then, with all faction, strife and uncharitable- 
ness from our land. We are brothers. Let no angry 
feelings enter our political dwellings. If we differ about 
measures or about men, (as, from the constitution of our 
nature, differ we must, ) let us remember that we are all 
but fallible men, and extend to others that charity of 
which the best of us cannot but feel that we stand in 
need. We owe this good temper and indulgence to 
each other as members of the same family, as all in- 
terested, and deeply interested, in the preservation of 



the Union and of our political institutions: and we 
owe it to the world as the van-couriers of free go- 
vernment on earthy and the guardians of the first altar 
that has been erected to Liberty in modern times. 
In the casual differences of opinion that must, from 
time to time, be expected to arise among us, it is na- 
tural that each should think himself right. But let 
us be content to make that right appear by calm and 
respectful reasoning. Truth does not require the torch 
of discord to light her steps. Its flickering and baleful 
glare can only disturb her course. Her best light is 
her own pure and native lustre. Measures never lose 
any thing of their firmness by their moderation. They 
win their way as much by the candor and kindness 
with which they are conducted, as by their intrinsic 
rectitude. 

Friends and fellow-citizens, "our lines have fallen to 
us in pleasant places: yea, we have a goodly heritage. ' J 
Let us not mar it by vindictive altercations among our- 
selves, and offend the shades of our departed fathers 
who left this rich inheritance to us. Let us not tinge 
with shame and sorrow, the venerable cheek of the last 
surviving signer of the Declaration of our Indepen- 
dence, whom heaven still spares to our respect and 
affections. Let us not disappoint the world which still 
looks to us for a bright example, and is manifestly pre- 
paring to follow our steps. Let us not offend that Al- 
mighty Being who gave us all these blessings, and who 
has a right to expect that we will enjoy them in peace 
and brotherly love. It is His will that we should so 
enjoy them; and may his will be done. 



ADDRESS 



THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE 



THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. 



Friends and ancient Allies: 

We, the people of Baltimore, in Convention as- 
sembled, do, with unqualified satisfaction, tender you 
our heartfelt congratulations, on the late glorious asser- 
tion of your undoubted rights. When we behold the 
many and severe trials through which you have passed, 
we cannot but express our joy, that your liberty is now 
fixed on a firm, and, as we ardently hope, an endur- 
ing basis. We must ever bear in vivid recollection, the 
efficacious assistance you so liberally extended to us in 
our day of peril. The blood and the treasure of France 
flowed freely in our cause. Under circumstances of 
great national difficulty you alone, among the nations 
of the world, interposed your shield for our protection. 
Frenchmen and Americans fought side by side in the 
holy contest for freedom; and variant as were their 
habits, religion, manners, and language, it is neverthe- 
less true, that not a solitary instance of discord dis- 
turbed the harmony of the two people. The most ex- 
emplary citizen of America did not render more abso- 
lute submission to the laws, and to the civil authority, 
than did the gallant and devoted soldier of France. 
Such are the noble inspirations of liberty! These re- 
6 



4-2 

collections are cherished with gratitude, and will be 
faithfully transmitted to millions of unborn Americans. 
To Heaven, to France, and to the stout hearts of our 
ancestors, are we indebted for all that man should 
most highly prize. And we rejoice that our ancient 
and faithful allies have triumphed over tyranny, have 
asserted their unalienable rights, and themselves or- 
dained their great charter of government. We rejoice 
that this triumph has been accomplished with that mild 
and chastened spirit becoming the age, and peculiar to 
advanced civilization. No excess, no absence of moder- 
ation, no intemperate ardor nor vengeful aspirations! 
In this sublime display of courage and of humanity, 
of victory and of forbearance united, Americans are de- 
lighted to see the hand, and to recognize the benevo- 
lent spirit of the great and good Lafayette, to whom 
the hearts of the people of Baltimore are bound by so 
many indissoluble and grateful associations. History 
affords no brighter example of cool and philosophic ex- 
pression of matured thought, and of determined yet 
temperate action. The omen is most propitious, and a 
people so actuated must enjoy ages of that liberty they 
have so dearly yet so nobly achieved. That this bril- 
liant omen may be carried out into happy reality, 
through all courses of time, is our sincere wish, and 
our most earnest supplication to him who holds the 
destinies of nations in his hand. 

SAMUEL SMITH, Chairman. 
John S. Skinner, Sec'ry. 



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